Puerto Rican

José Laureano, born in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, began in boxing as a competitor and went on to work as a coach, official, and sports administrator....

Janiel “Pototo” Rivera is a Puerto Rican professional boxer. Public bout records list him at 18 wins, 9 losses and 3 draws, with 11 knockouts after his May…...

Héctor “Ray” Meléndez challenged Hilario Zapata for the WBC light flyweight championship in Caracas on August 4, 1980. The Dominican contender completed fifteen rounds before Zapata retained his title by unanimous decision....

Nelson Dieppa-Gerena is a Puerto Rican boxer from Vieques who competed as a light-flyweight amateur before becoming a WBO junior-flyweight world champion as…...

Luis Rolón was a Puerto Rican amateur boxer in the light-flyweight division. He won gold at the 1987 Pan American Games in Indianapolis and represented…...

Iván “Iron Boy” Calderón became a two-division world champion on August 25, 2007, outpointing Hugo Cázares for the WBO light flyweight belt. The Puerto Rican southpaw had already made twelve successful defenses of the organization’s minimumweight championship....

Wilfredo Méndez is a Puerto Rican boxer who held the WBO minimumweight title from 2019 to 2021. He won the belt from Vic Saludar by unanimous decision and…...

Puerto Rican boxer Alex “El Nene” Sánchez held the WBO minimumweight title from 1993 to 1997, making six successful defenses....

José Miguel Cotto Vázquez is a Puerto Rican boxer from Caguas and the older brother of four-division world champion Miguel Cotto. José represented…...

Career Milestones and Fight Results That chance came against Greg Haugen, the reigning IBF lightweight champion, at Tacoma Dome on April 11, 1988. The stakes were clear, but the finish was anything but. Their scheduled fifteen-round contest was stopped in the eleventh after an accidental head clash left Haugen...

A comeback win for a title Machado entered the October 2017 fight with Corrales undefeated and ranked among the leading super-featherweights. The bout’s title status shifted at the weigh-in: Corrales missed the 130-pound limit and was stripped, leaving Machado eligible to win the WBA’s regular championship. Corrales still made...

Pedro Montañez built a reputation that followed him from Cayey, Puerto Rico, to the big boxing rooms of New York. Known as “El Torito de Cayey,” he was a durable, busy lightweight whose career brought him close to the world championship twice. Neither title fight went his way, but...

The road to Bayamón Escalera had earned that homecoming through a long championship run. On July 5, 1975, he traveled to Japan and knocked out Kuniaki Shibata in the second round to claim the WBC title. The Puerto Rican built ten successful defenses, establishing himself as a force at...

A champion’s timing Pedraza turned professional in 2011 and climbed through the super featherweight ranks unbeaten. In June 2015, he outpointed Andrey Klimov to win the vacant IBF title. He defended it against Edner Cherry and Stephen Smith before meeting the young Gervonta Davis in 2017. Davis stopped him...

The night Durán was beaten On November 17, 1972, De Jesús met the reigning WBA lightweight champion at Madison Square Garden in a 10-round non-title bout. He floored Durán with a left hook in the opening round and went on to win a unanimous decision. Durán’s championship was not...

Ortiz first reached the championship level at junior welterweight. In 1959, he stopped Kenny Lane in the second round to win the title. After a controversial defeat to Loi in Milan cost him the crown, Ortiz moved down to lightweight and began a second climb. On April 21, 1962,...